JOIN USQuoting renowned Hindi poet Dinkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sent a strong signal to poll-bound Bihar to end caste politics and embrace a merit-based society.
“In 1961, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar had in a letter said to improve Bihar, people should forget castes and be united in support of merit,” Modi said at an event to commemorate 50 years of two popular books penned by Dinkar, hailed as a national poet.
The timing of the function to celebrate the golden jubilee of Dinkar's works 'Sanskriti ke Chaar Adhyaye' and 'Parshuram ki Pratiksha' comes months ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, where BJP is seeking to come to power on its own.
Viewed as a party of the upper castes, the BJP badly needs the support of a cross section of the society in a state deeply divided on caste lines. So well entrenched are the divisions that politicians claim that it is castes and not people who reside in Bihar.
The legacy of Dinkar, a Bhumihar, has often been courted by parties before polls to rally caste votes. On Friday, senior BJP leader C P Thakur and others present at the function at Vigyan Bhawan here demanded that Dinkar be decorated with Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour.
Modi recalled that in the 1961 letter, Dinkar had said if the people of Bihar do not rise above caste, public life in the state will decay.
The Prime Minister said development of states like West Bengal, Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the northeast was critical to the overall development of the country. “The western India may be prosperous, but unless the wisdom of the east complements it, India will not be able to achieve its full potential,” he said.